The city’s current plan has not been updated in at least 15 years. City Planner Tim Watkins says the update is crucial because Layton’s population is expected to explode over the next three decades. Between now and 2050, Layton will add 30,000 new residents, a 40 percent increase from its present-day population of around 75,000.

Between October and January, the city made a survey available online, asking residents to chime in on their vision for the future. More than 1,800 people completed the survey and the city has fine-tuned its planning discussion based on those results and from input received at previous community meetings.

The city is now asking for more citizen input on a new set of planning topics including land use, mixed-use development, opportunities to create urban districts, residential design standards and weaving agriculture into new development. Residents can review the items and respond to questionnaires attached to each of the topics at LaytonForward.org.

Concepts for two new “town centers” — one in west Layton and another near the future Gordon Avenue interchange on Highway 89 — are also open for review. The centers include town homes, recreational, civic and religious spaces, apartments and condos, public plazas, commercial space, green space in the form of small orchards and new residential neighborhoods.

The would-be developments set a focus on walkable streets, housing variety and affordability and transitioning land-use patterns — with single-family homes on the outer edges and commercial and high-density housing space at the core, near high-traffic roads. Neighborhoods would be connected with green space, parks, and trails.

On their planning website, the city stresses the concepts now exist only as ideas that are in line with established growth policies.

A public review of the update draft will be presented at an open house meeting, which is tentatively scheduled for late April. The plan will also be posted at LaytonForward.org for a three week public review and comment period.

A final draft will likely be reviewed by the Planning Commission in May, with the council voting on final approval and adoption in June.